


Command: Inferno

by interrobangme



Category: Kingsman: The Secret Service (2015)
Genre: Feels, M/M, Mission Gone Wrong
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-10-27
Updated: 2015-10-27
Packaged: 2018-04-28 12:11:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5090228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/interrobangme/pseuds/interrobangme
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Harry and Merlin fight a gang of terrorists, are caught in a fire, and work through some issues.</p>
<p>Inspired by a prompt from chibicheeberson on Tumblr.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Command: Inferno

Harry dragged his shoe over the carpet and tried to relax. He rolled his shoulders and leaned harder against the wall, as if he could push through it and into the server room behind him. 

"I still don't understand why I couldn't recover the data myself," he muttered quietly, knowing the comm link in his glasses would pick it up.

Inside the server room, Merlin sighed, his fingers tapping away at various keyboards. 

"Because the firewalls alone would have left you baffled," Merlin said. He heard in his ear the unmistakable sound of Harry opening his mouth to argue and plowed on. "And besides, you're too slow."

Harry straightened up on the other side of the wall and huffed. Merlin smirked, plugging three flash drives into their respective modems, flitting around the room lit only by the electric blue glow of the devices surrounding him.

"Relax, Harry, I'll be done in a moment. Then you can go to back to your merry gang of terrorists and play the oblivious mercenary."

Harry bit his cheek to keep from smiling as a muscular Russian stomped past holding an assault rifle. Harry nodded at him and tried to look bored. The mercenary, Ivan, grunted and continued down the hallway and out of sight.

"'Merry' might not be the right word for them," Harry whispered, scratching his nose to hide his mouth from the cameras. He'd been infiltrating this ring of Eastern European criminals for a month, and all he had to show for it was a handful of blood money and a crude gang tattoo on his left bicep. He couldn't wait to see what Merlin thought of that one. 

"Yes, well, they can't all be like Mumbai," Merlin said, and listened to Harry hum in response. 

"A beautiful city, with the friendliest eco-terrorists I've ever had the pleasure of double-crossing."

Merlin smiled and packed up all but one of his flash drives. "I've got the information on the location of the next bombing. I should be able to de-crypt it back at Headquarters."

"Alright then, you'd better be on your way," Harry said, glancing up and down the hallway to ensure no one would hear Merlin climbing out the server room window and grappling onto the roof. "I'd see you off, but Stanislav might not take too kindly to the sight of his newest recruit snogging the agent fleeing by stealth helicopter. You understand. Toodle-pip!"

Merlin nearly snorted. "Not so fast, Harry, I've got one more idea."

The silence on the other end of the comms told him more than anything Harry could have said.

"From what I can tell, they've got the plans for all their upcoming attacks on here," Merlin went on, "and their locations. Supposing we don't manage to capture Stanislav at the next bombing, these are our best bet at predicting where he'll be."

He listened to Harry think and attempted to break through the layers of security, lines of code reflecting off his glasses in blue and white ribbons.

"Merlin, I'd really rather you got back to Headquarters. This wasn't part of the plan."

Merlin keyed in an access code he'd found in his data gathering and watched as the monitor blinked in recognition. "It's important that we get all that we can. There's no telling when we'll get access to this room again, if we do at all."

"You've got the location of the bombing, that's all you need," Harry snapped, keeping his voice low, but Merlin could hear the tension in it. "You don't know what they're capable of, Merlin. What they do to people who try to steal from them." He paused, noting the sound of a commotion downstairs. Probably Ivan and Yury fighting over another poker game. "I just want to know that you're safe--"

" _Harry_ ," Merlin snapped, "let me do my job."

The words crackled in the silence between them like static. Harry could hear the unspoken implications of the command. They'd been dancing around the issue for so long. When Merlin wasn't sending every possible resource after Harry (sometimes including himself, to Harry's dismay), Harry was taking bullets or learning more advanced hacking skills so he could take on Merlin's field role as often as possible. While they both respected each other as professionals, Harry knew this was a moment to show his trust in Merlin's judgment.

"Five minutes," Harry mumbled.

Merlin typed on, trying to process the string of letters and numbers in front of him, his shoulders relaxing at Harry's acceptance. They were equals as partners, in life and in work. He didn't want to have one cancel out the other.

A moment later, their shaky peace was broken by Ivan stomping back down the hallway. He stopped in front of Harry and jerked his head toward the stairs.

"Boss wants to see you," he said in Russian.

"Fine," Harry replied easily in the same tongue, but Merlin heard the unease behind it.

Harry turned and followed Ivan down the stairs and into a small guest bedroom Stanislav had been using as an informal office.

"Viktor!" Stanislav boomed, reaching for Harry with open arms. Harry met his back-clapping embrace and sat down in the chair offered him opposite the large man. As always, Harry did his best to avoid staring at the prominent scar running across Stanislav's neck.

"My boy, you've done very well here, with me and my men." Stanislov reached for a side table and poured out two glasses of vodka. He handed one to Harry.

"Da," Harry grunted. "Thanks," he mumbled into the glass, almost begrudgingly. He'd been portraying Viktor as a rough gun for hire, uncomfortable with forming ties to people but reluctantly feeling accepted in the ranks of this gang.

"In so little time, you've helped rig parts for my bombs," Stanislav ticked off on his fingers, "managed to rob three banks without a trace, and shown your hidden talents for making someone talk." 

Harry sunk a little lower in his seat, knowing Viktor would be uncomfortable with the praise, but also wishing Merlin hadn't been able to hear the depths he'd stooped to in order to gain the trust of these men. 

"Where did you learn all this? Hm?" Stanislav leaned forward, his breath a cloud of alcohol and cigarettes, engulfing Harry, pinning him to the chair.

Harry looked away, flicking a nervous glance at the scar, knowing Stanislav would take it as a sign of intimidation. "I've worked for many people," he answered. "Learned to make myself useful."

"Of course! Always so clever." Stanislav leaned back in his chair, his fat hands braced on his thighs. "Since you're so clever," he continued, waving Ivan over, who held out a laptop, "would you tell me what you were doing skulking around the server room?"

Harry could hear the moment of silence as Merlin's fingers faltered on the keys. He hoped Merlin knew it was time to get out. He could stall them for another few minutes, but surely they were made. He tried to will Merlin out the window and onto the roof, to leave behind the data--

The sound of keyboards clattering to life returned, and Harry breathed through his emotions. 

He shrugged. "I thought I heard a noise. I went to look around, and no one was there."

Stanislav laughed. "Such a bloodhound, Viktor! And after you looked around, you just felt like standing in the hallway for another eleven minutes?" 

The laptop flickered, a loop of the security feed showing Harry leaning against the wall in the hallway, occasionally scratching his nose or pacing a few feet before returning. Harry took in the sight of himself with a week's worth of stubble, wearing baggy khakis and an all-weather coat, the uniform of the men around him.

Harry spoke through clenched teeth. "I wanted to be sure nothing was there."

Stanislav reached up a meaty hand and patted Harry's cheek. Harry blinked, suppressing the urge to flinch. "So thorough, Viktor. But for all your thoroughness, you missed something."

Ivan pressed a button and the security feed disappeared, replaced by lines of letters and numbers whizzing past. 

"I don't understand."

Stanislav stood, seeming to take up all the space in the little room. "Neither do I, really. All this technology gets in the way of my more simple plans. But my men, they have convinced me of its necessity. And what they tell me is that this," he pointed at the screen, where the code danced past, "is a hacker in our systems. Our systems," he grew louder as he stepped towards Harry, "which are only accessible from the server room."

Harry's muscles tightened as the urge to flee to Merlin's side grew stronger. They had discussed this, he reminded himself. His cover was to be maintained at all costs unless it was certainly blown. 

"Are you trying to say I let a spy into our compound? After all I've done for you?" Harry growled, hands clenching at the arms of his chair.

Stanislav's hands covered his own and he leaned in once more, that hot breath assaulting Harry's senses. 

"Of course not, Viktor," he said softly. "I'm suggesting you take care of the problem." He turned to Ivan, who thrust the laptop in Harry's face. 

Ivan spoke clearly, "Backslash 7058, semicolon 4621, command: "inferno," control/enter."

Harry reached out automatically, looking up at Stanislav for a moment as he obeyed. He hoped Merlin had gone already, as he was unable to hear any sounds of keys clackling in his ear over Stanislav's heavy breathing. 

The moment Harry entered the command, an explosion rocked the building. He looked up, towards the server room, knowing it must have been rigged to blow. The computers themselves were probably fried, maybe even literally on fire.

"Fuck," Merlin swore in his ear, and Harry had to grasp the arms of the chair again to keep from springing to action. 

"You'd burn it all, to keep it from them?" he asked.

Stanislav stood as Ivan shut the laptop and placed it on the side table. 

"We have copies of all the data, of course," Stanislav said. "Backups that will follow us to a safe house in Berlin. A safe house, Viktor, that you will not be seeing."

Harry heard the click of the safety coming off Ivan's handgun behind him and ducked down, grabbing and yanking Ivan forward. He bit Ivan's hand, and the man cried out in surprise, firing a shot that lodged in Stanislav's leg. 

Stanislav crumpled to the floor, yelling for his men, but Harry took Ivan's gun and shot him between the eyes before he could finish his sentence. Harry noted the silencer Ivan had screwed onto the muzzle, pleased that he didn't have to worry about the sound drawing more men into the room.

Ivan ran for the door, but Harry turned and shot him in the back. Ivan sagged against the door, still reaching for the handle, hoping to flag down some of the guards in the hall. 

Harry stood over him, the gun pointed at Ivan's head. Ivan looked up at him, snarling, and Harry pulled the trigger.

"I never liked you anyway," he muttered, dragging Ivan's body out of the way of the door.

Harry stuffed the gun down the back of his pants and peered into the hallway. No one was nearby. They must have rushed to leave after the explosion. Harry hurried out the door and up the stairs, returning to the server room. There were two more of Stanislav's men, Dmitri and Yuri, standing in front of it, rifles at the ready.

Harry could see smoke curling out from under the door.

"Stanislav wants everyone in the driveway for roll call before we evacuate," he said.

Dmitri reached for his radio to confirm Harry's order. Harry stopped him by grabbing the end of his rifle and slamming it up between them, pointed at the ceiling. Yuri aimed at Harry, who grasped Dmitri's arms and turned to use him as a shield. 

Harry heard the thwack of bullets entering the man's flesh, then dropped him in favor of pulling the handgun out of his pants. Harry crouched, rolling to the other side of the hallway, and aimed at Yuri, who fired at the same moment he did. 

Harry's shot sent the guard keeling over backwards with a rapidly growing patch of red in the middle of his chest.

Absently, Harry felt the burn of a bullet in his left shoulder, but he heard Merlin coughing and bolted for the door.

"Merlin!" He reached for the knob, knowing it would be red-hot, but turned it through his jacket sleeve in the hopes it was unlocked. The knob didn't budge.

He threw himself against the door, shoulder-first, and nearly fell to his knees as the force slammed across his body to his injured shoulder. He braced himself and ran at the door again. He felt it give somewhat, then had to lean beside the door to see past the blinding pain, but was satisfied with the way the door looked splintered and buckled. 

He took a step back and kicked, bashing at the weakest points until he could push the remains of the door in and stumble inside. 

The air was hazy with smoke, but not as thickly as he'd expected. He saw the window across the server room was half-open, which explained the relative breathability of the air. Hope surged in his chest that Merlin had been able to make it out the window before he could reach him.

Harry looked around, avoiding the flames ringing the the room through their respective gadgets. The blue glow of the modems flickered in and out as orange fire licked at plastic, melting it. The warped electronics hissed as flames lapped up their life force. 

Harry ducked when a piece of the roof caved in, sending thick beams of wood raining down into the room. He looked up at the roof and saw a hole. It had been collapsing for some time. 

The beams acted as kindling, crackling as the fire spread, blocking the path to the door Harry had entered through. 

Harry stayed low to the ground and crawled behind piles of groaning technology. He saw a brown leather shoe sticking out from behind a row of computer towers and hurried towards it, his shoulder protesting against the effort and the heat.

"Merlin!" he coughed as he reached the man. Merlin was unconscious, a large beam from the roof slanted across his body. Flames covered the top of the beam and had already eaten through the leg of Merlin's trousers. Harry could see the exposed flesh, burned and reddened. Merlin's face was slack and coated with sweat, knocked out by the smoke or a blow from the roof caving in.

"Merlin!" Harry called, trying to wake him. He knew if he simply rolled the beam off of Merlin he'd do more damage, spreading the flames to Merlin's torso, which remained relatively unscathed through his suit jacket. 

Harry removed his own jacket and wound it over his hands. He reached for the beam and pinched it between his hands, standing up and lifting it off of Merlin. His left arm nearly gave out at the pain from his shoulder, but he leaned the beam onto his right arm, watching the flames tease at the cuff of his shirtsleeve as he stepped away and heaved the beam into a pile of waxy, melted keyboards. 

Harry dropped to the floor again, his head pounding as it begged for more oxygenated air. He crawled over to Merlin, beating his sleeve against the ground until the small flames died out. 

He reached Merlin's side and grabbed him beneath the arms. He wrapped his arms around Merlin's chest and heaved him upright. Merlin groaned and tossed his head from side to side. Harry saw the light of the fire reflected in the blood on the back of Merlin's head.

Harry dragged him over to the window, but Merlin woke with a start, his muscles tense and his arms reaching back for Harry's throat.

"It's me, Bill, it's just me!" Harry called over the groan of still more beams falling from the ceiling and crashing to the floor. 

"Harry," Merlin coughed. He tried to stand but couldn't put any weight on the burned leg. Harry just clutched him tighter, the press of Merlin's sharp shoulder into his wound keeping him alert as he guided them past wreckage and towards the window.

When they reached the window, Harry placed Merlin gingerly against the wall and wrenched the window fully open. He looked out and down at the ground. They were on the third floor, too far to jump and land safely, especially with Merlin's injured leg. 

"Harry," Merlin wheezed. "Get out of here. I can't climb, I can't jump. Just go." He reached out and Harry took his hand, only to have three flash drives pressed into his grasp. 

Harry's hand clenched around the flash drives, furious at them for being the reason Merlin would put himself in danger. He tucked them into his pocket all the same, his automatic reaction to do his job, but wrapped his hand back around Merlin's.

"There is no chance in hell I'm leaving you here," Harry said. "Either we both get out, or we both stay."

Merlin looked up into Harry's dark eyes as they gleamed, the flames reflected in them, and nodded.

Harry patted down Merlin's sides and retrieved the small radio Merlin kept on his belt. It was relatively undamaged, and Harry twisted the knobs to the proper frequency.

"Eggsy? Are you still out there?" Harry called into the radio. 

"Finally!" Eggsy's voice crackled through the speaker. "I've been hovering up here for ages. The roof's given out!"

"I'm aware," Harry said, hunching over Merlin as more rubble rained down from above. "Think you can manage to pick us up at the window?"

"What, like a drive-through? Two Kingsman agents, hold the cheese? Coming right up."

Harry stood and lifted Merlin to his feet again as the sound of rotor blades gradually overpowered the noise from the fire behind him. Fortunately, the chopper was tall enough that the blades could spin harmlessly over the roof while Eggsy lined up the open cabin door with the window. 

Harry eased Merlin over the window ledge, squeezing as hard as he could to stop his weakened shoulder from dropping him. Merlin reached up and grabbed onto the sides of the helicopter, helping to haul himself inside. Harry leapt in after him, the fire lapping at his back. Eggsy pulled up and took off for Headquarters. 

Harry opened one of the many medical kits they kept onboard and quickly had an IV dripping fluid into Merlin. He hoped the painkillers would work quickly, because next he cut open Merlin's pant leg and prepared to clean the burn. 

"Are you ready?" he asked Merlin.

Merlin took a deep breath and wadded up his tie, biting down on it. He nodded at Harry, who gave him a firm squeeze on the arm before covering his mouth with an oxygen mask.

Harry retrieved a towel from the kit and soaked it in a cold water and soap solution they kept in the cooler. He draped the towel over the burn as lightly as he could. 

Merlin's cries were muted by the tie and mask, but he clutched at Harry's leg with one arm and the pilot's chair with the other. 

Eggsy took a look back and saw the extent of the burn, and the blood marring both Harry and Merlin. 

"You should have called," he said quietly. "I could have parked this bird and come in."

"Then who would have kept the helicopter away from the roof collapse?" Harry said calmly as he used a large pair of tweezers to remove any fabric burned into Merlin's leg. He moved upward, treating the smaller burns on Merlin's torso, and Merlin yanked the oxygen mask off and spat out his tie. 

"You're doing a great job, by the way, Eggsy," Merlin said, somewhat breathless. "A very smooth ride."

"Yeah, well, I had a good teacher, even if he is an old fool," Eggsy said, but smiled all the same.

Merlin eased himself up onto his elbows so Harry could clean the bump on the back of his head. "Roof fell in on top of me," he explained quietly. "I tried to get out once I knew they were going to sabotage the room."

"I know," Harry said, patting at the scrapes on Merlin's head with some gauze. "I saw the window open." He paused, checking the IV needlessly. "My question is, why didn't you get out once you knew they saw you in their systems? The data was compromised, they were likely to change all of their plans anyway. Why keep looking for it?"

Merlin huffed. "I wasn't. I switched tactics. I didn't stay to keep pilfering their data, I started spreading a virus to their information cloud."

Harry leaned over to pat gently at the scratches on Merlin's face. "You sent it to their backups."

"Of course," Merlin said. "Did you really think I was still chasing after compromised information? I was taking down their support network, their copies. You have to trust that I'm doing my job, Harry, even if you don't know what I'm up to."

Harry sat back and swiped a hand over his own face. "You're right," he said, "I'm sor--"

Merlin jolted upright, hands reaching out for Harry's shoulders. "And what in the hell is that?" He asked, his voice low, indicating the bloody stain on Harry's shirt. 

"It's nothing," Harry said. Merlin leveled a steely gaze at him. "It's fine, put your oxygen mask on." Harry steered the mask towards Merlin's face, but it was batted aside.

Merlin tore open Harry's shirt. He snatched the gauze from Harry's hand and started to clean the wound. He could see where the bullet jutted out against the skin, probably wedged in by the bone of Harry's shoulder or clavicle.

"You've got bone splinters in here, in addition to a bullet," Merlin said tersely. "Plus whatever damage you've done to the muscles around it, playing firefighter in there."

Harry reached out and captured Merlin's hand in his, bringing it up to his lips. He placed a light kiss on Merlin's knuckles and looked into his eyes.

"You need to trust that I'm doing my job, even when you don't know what I'm up to," he echoed back to Merlin. "And my job, my number one priority," he moved closer to Merlin, wrapping him sideways in his arms, "is always to find you."

Merlin tried to pull away. "Harry..." he said, but Harry just pulled him closer and pressed his forehead into Merlin's neck.

"I won't lose you," Harry said, his words muffled. "You can't just jump into danger and expect me to leave you there."

Merlin relaxed in Harry's grasp and leaned into the touch. "And you can't expect me not to jump into danger for you," he said, rubbing his hands along Harry's forearms. 

"Fine," Harry muttered, breathing in the scent of Merlin, although it was tinged with smoke. "We have an agreement. Trust in each other's plans, even though we're both idiots."

Merlin stopped the motion of his hands on Harry's arms. He sat up straighter and turned Harry's arm over. 

"Are these burns?" he asked, and Harry looked down at the patches of his arm that had been touched by fire as he righted himself to haul the beam off Merlin.

Eggsy sighed from the pilot seat and shook his head. "Chrissake," he mumbled.

"Ah, yes," Harry answered, ducking his head a little. "Right. Trust in the plan, we're fools but only for each other, and report all injuries." Merlin glared at him. "Immediately?" Harry amended.

Merlin reached for the first aid kit while Harry held his IV in place. He started in on Harry's burns and muttered, "What on earth have I done to deserve this?"

Harry's quiet voice answered, "I ask myself that every day." Merlin looked up into Harry's awe-filled eyes, and kissed the smile off his face.


End file.
